Political heroes + UK Independence party (Ukip) | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/series/politicalheroes+politics/ukip
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Nigel Farage hosts phone-in on LBC: Politics live bloghttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/09/nigel-farage-hosts-phone-in-on-lbc-politics-live-blog
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/09/nigel-farage-hosts-phone-in-on-lbc-politics-live-blog#block-536c96e3e4b0c4fdfaa78a6d">* Summary</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T10:30:17.907+01:00">10.30am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Here are the main points from Nigel Farage's LBC phone-in.</p><p><b>* Farage claimed that postal voting fraud was a &quot;scandal&quot; and that it was going on &quot;on a third world scale&quot; in the UK.</b></p><p>The Blair government opened up postal voting and for the first seven years you could apply for a postal vote without even proving your identity. And there is postal voting fraud going on on a third world scale in this country. I know it.</p><p>Electoral fraud is a serious issue. One of the Electoral Commission’s priorities is to ensure both that fraud is prevented from happening and that it is swiftly detected in the relatively rare circumstances that it is committed.</p><p>Despite some high-profile cases in recent years when fraud has been detected and punished, there is no evidence to suggest that there have been widespread, systematic attempts to undermine or interfere with recent elections through electoral fraud.</p><p>In March a Lib Dem councillor in Surrey didn't say something nasty, he was convicted of racially aggravated assault. That didn't make the national press ... The Conservatives in Lincolnshire have a bloke standing for them whose a well-known BNP activist. You haven't read about that. Imagine one of mine? If one of mine had been a former BNP officer, there would be hell to pay. Scrutiny is fine. But it should be applied evenly across all theparties, and it is not.</p><p>It's appalling. I believe in the principle of innocence before guilt. And what the taxman now does is he sends you a demand, he says, 'You owe me this money, you're guilty, prove to me you're innocent.' And now we're going to give him the power, not just to send us a demand and threaten us, but to take it straight out of our bank accounts. It must not be allowed to happen.</p><p>But to see the level of prejudice that is now levelled against us at the Eurovision song contest, and then to believe that Mr Cameron is going to Brussels and renegotiate a good deal for us, it is really quite funny all round.</p><p>But not too much training. Because I think the great thing is we want people in politics who act on instinct. And we are not, as a national party, going to whip our councillors and tell them what they should and shouldn't do. They will be free to be independently minded and to make up their minds on the issues that affect things locally.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:44:26.115+01:00">9.44am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>That's it. They certainly rattled through plenty of questions.</p><p>Newswise, it was what Nigel Farage had to say about postal voting fraud that was most noteworthy. He claimed it was going on &quot;on a third world scale&quot;.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:35:08.772+01:00">9.35am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: Do you watch the Eurovision song contest?</i></p><p>Farage says he does not like it. But he did enjoy it when Terry Wogan was presenting it; he was funny, Farage says.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:33:11.943+01:00">9.33am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Farage says he will stand somewhere in the south east of England in the general election.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:32:41.310+01:00">9.32am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Farage says, if women are physically up to it, he would support them serving in combat roles. In World War Two they did, he says, in places like Russia where they drove tanks.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:32:03.401+01:00">9.32am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: What do you feel about HMRC being able to take money out of bank accounts?</i></p><p>It is appalling, says Farage. It goes against the principle of innocent until proven guilty.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:31:21.991+01:00">9.31am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: Isn't Ukip a wasted vote? You don't have a single MP. It's just a protest vote.</i></p><p>Farage says he does not accept that. This is not just him shouting at Herman Van Rompuy.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:29:57.064+01:00">9.29am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: What conditions should be put on the Pfizer AstraZeneca deal for it to be allowed to go ahead?</i></p><p>Farage says for the last week we have had farcical debate. We cannot decide, because this is in the hands of a Brussels bureaucrat, Mr Almunia.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:27:26.594+01:00">9.27am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: The EU has trading pacts many other countries. Why does Ukip keep lying about the UK not being able to trade with other countries?</i></p><p>Farage says we are banned from entering trade deals with other countries in the world. These deals are negotiated on our behalf by a Belgian bureaucrat.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:24:49.927+01:00">9.24am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: When are you going to debate David Cameron?</i></p><p>Nick Ferrari says Cameron is proposing three debates, one of which would include Farage.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:21:11.926+01:00">9.21am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Bloomberg's Rob Hutton is playing spot the inconsistency.</p><p>Farage tells LBC caller he wants the government to stop telling us what to do, and then calls for more regulation of food labeling.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:19:13.900+01:00">9.19am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: Should we be told about halal meat? And have you ever eaten it?</i></p><p>Yes, says Farage. We all have, because there is so much around.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:15:24.830+01:00">9.15am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: What will you do to ensure your councillors behave responsibly?</i></p><p>Farage says last year 147 Ukip councillors were elected. They did not have experience. That was good, he thought.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:13:42.738+01:00">9.13am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: How does it feel to be called a racist?</i></p><p>Farage says this is the media establishment ganging up on Ukip.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:10:46.183+01:00">9.10am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><i>Q: A report earlier in the week said younger people don't want to vote. Why not make voting compulsory?</i></p><p>Farage says he does not like the state telling us what to do. So he does not support compulsory voting.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:07:39.436+01:00">9.07am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Here we go.<b> Nigel Farage</b> has arrived.</p><p>It is murder out there in the traffic, Farage says.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:05:43.488+01:00">9.05am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>On BBC News this morning<b> David Cameron</b> suggested that Ukip candidates were not competent to be MEPs.</p><p>I think what I’d say is I’ve got to concentrate on the issues. I think during this election though, we have seen some extraordinary statements, in many cases very, very unpleasant statements from UKIP financial backers and candidates and I think it does go to the issue of the competence of the party: what on earth are they doing selecting people and allowing people like this to be in their party.</p><p>So it does go to my core point which is you’ve got to, when you think of voting, think about the competence of people who you’re going to send to Strasbourg and Brussels; the competence of people that are going to run your local council and if they can’t control what they’re saying then that does raise a very big issue of competence.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T09:00:34.409+01:00">9.00am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Nigel Farage is running late, according to Nick Ferrari.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T08:57:31.496+01:00">8.57am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>The phone-in is about to start.</p><p><a href="http://www.lbc.co.uk/">You can watch it on the LBC website.</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T08:56:32.831+01:00">8.56am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Nigel Farage is getting a lot of attention here because Ukip are widely expected to win the European elections. You can read a round-up of all the latest polls <a href="http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/european-elections">here, at UK Polling Report.</a></p><p>If you want to know why they are doing so well, you really ought to read <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolt-Right-Explaining-Extremism-Democracy/dp/0415661501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1399622168&amp;sr=1-1">Revolt on the Right, a new book about Ukip by two academics, Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin.</a> It combines a history of the party with a very detailed psephological analysis of where their support comes from. I can't think of any book I've read recently that explains today's politics so well, and I recommend it highly. But, in case you haven't got time to read it, here's the argument boiled down to six points.</p><p>Over recent decades, deep social and economic changes have hit particular groups within British society very hard: older, less skilled and less well educated working-class voters. These are the groups we describe as the 'left behind' in modern Britain, who could once rely on the strength of their numbers to ensure a voice in each of the mainstream parties. Yet has Britain has been transformed, the relentless growth of the highly educated middle class has changed the strategic calculus. Both Labour and the Conservatives now regard winning support from middle-class swing voters as more important than appealing to the struggling left behind voters.</p><p>Ukip, a party formed for a very different purpose [converting the Conservative party to Euroscepticism], and which initially appealed to very different voters, has, almost by accident, stumbled across this potent new social division and given it a voice.</p><p>The final paradox of Ukip support is this: at a time of falling real incomes and unprecedented economic uncertainty, voters from poorer and more insecure social groups should rally behind the party who can offer them the best prospect for economic support and assistance. Instead, as we have seen, struggling blue-collar voters, from the 'left behind' social groups have moved behind a party with a barely coherent or credible economic policy, no track record of helping the disadvantaged and a libertarian activist base who openly favour free markets over support for the disadvantaged. The explanation for this paradox is that politics, for the voters who back Ukip, has ceased to be defined primarily as a battle for economic resources. Ukip voters, who are by some margin the most politically disaffected group in the electorate, have lost faith in the ability of traditional politics to solve their everyday problems and have instead turned their anger towards groups they feel are responsible for the decline in their standards of living and their loss of control over their lives.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-05-09T08:28:08.927+01:00">8.28am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Good morning. I don't normally do a blog on Fridays, but with the local and European elections less than two weeks away, and Nigel Farage on LBC at 9am, I thought I would make an exception. I will be covering the phone-in, and the reaction to it, before wrapping up mid morning.</p><p>Last night, of course, Farage was on Question Time. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/08/question-time-with-nigel-farage-grant-shapps-chuka-umunna-shirley-williams-and-caroline-lucas-bbcqt-live">You can read about it here.</a></p><p>I have been noticing for a few months something very encouraging: a surge of support and new members from Britain’s ethnic minority communities. In one of my debates with Nick Clegg (bless him) a young woman from an Asian background asked a question about migration and I noticed her nodding as I set out the absurdity of Britain’s current immigration policy: to have a open door to more than 400 million people, many unskilled, from more than two dozen countries, while imposing restrictions that made it difficult for a New Zealand surgeon or an Indian engineer to come and make a positive contribution.</p><p>During my “Join the People’s Army” tour of Britain (I know, the name is bound to have the fragile flowers among the commentariat at <i>The Times </i>reaching for their smelling salts) I have noticed more people from minority backgrounds coming to public meetings and stopping for a chat in the street.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/09/nigel-farage-hosts-phone-in-on-lbc-politics-live-blog">Continue reading...</a>UK newsNigel FarageUK Independence party (Ukip)Immigration and asylumEU referendumFri, 09 May 2014 09:42:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/may/09/nigel-farage-hosts-phone-in-on-lbc-politics-live-blogPhotograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesNigel Farage waiting speak at the launch of Ukip's local election campaign yesterday. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesNigel Farage waiting speak at the launch of Ukip's local election campaign yesterday. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesAndrew Sparrow2014-05-09T09:42:06ZLiberal Democrats suffered 'patchy result' in South Shields byelection – videohttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2013/may/03/liberal-democrats-patchy-result-south-shields-video
The Liberal Democrats' deputy leader Simon Hughes says the party has held all their seats 'where it matters' despite coming behind Ukip in the South Sheilds byelection. Hughes mentions areas such as Somerset and Gloucestershire where the Lib Dems have either held or gained seats. He argues there is a historical tradition of parties in government doing badly in byelections <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2013/may/03/liberal-democrats-patchy-result-south-shields-video">Continue reading...</a>Simon HughesLiberal DemocratsByelectionsUK newsLocal electionsLocal politicsLocal governmentUK Independence party (Ukip)Fri, 03 May 2013 14:21:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2013/may/03/liberal-democrats-patchy-result-south-shields-videoSimon Holdcroft/AlamyLiberal democrats poster Photograph: Simon Holdcroft/AlamyGuardian Staff2013-05-03T14:21:36Z